Buying a home and growing old with your best friend? “Two Women Living Together” reveals a new lifestyle trend in Korea: over 8 million single-person households, and instead of marriage we prefer “co-living”

Have you ever had an older family member ask you over the New Year, “If you don’t get married, who will take care of you when you’re old?” Rather than letting anxiety push them into a marriage they’ll settle for, women in South Korea are embracing another, cooler option. Have you heard of the book “Two Women Living Together: We Decided to Live Together and Grow Old Gracefully”? The life it describes is basically a real-life version of what we imagine while having afternoon tea with our closest girlfriends, and this trend is reshaping the fabric of Korean society.

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👯‍♀️ A symbiotic relationship beyond friendship and romance

The book’s authors, Kim Ha-neul and Hwang Seon-woo, are neither lovers nor related by blood. They’re the kind of best friends we all have. Tired of the unease of living alone and unwilling to marry just for marriage’s sake, they decided to buy a home together, raise cats together, and share the housework and mortgage payments.

Doesn’t this kind of relationship sound dreamy? The book depicts more than a simple shared living arrangement; it’s a life partnership grounded in mutual commitment. Through them, we see a new definition of family: a home doesn’t have to consist of a husband and children. Two independent souls who choose to support one another can create the warmest refuge, too. The book became such a hit because it challenges stereotypes about single women and shows that we can live happy, dignified lives outside the institution of marriage.

South Korea enters an era of widespread solo living

The book’s popularity is no accident; it speaks directly to South Korea’s current social reality. According to the latest data released by Statistics Korea in December, the country’s household structure is undergoing major change. Last year, the number of one-person households in South Korea surpassed 8.045 million, a significant increase from 2021. They accounted for 36.1% of all households, a record high.

Solo living has become the most common way of life in Seoul in particular. With more than one-third of people choosing to live alone, the “molecular family” concept proposed in “Two Women Living Together” – in which individuals freely come together to form new family units – feels especially constructive.

Why do we need to imagine this kind of life?

These rising numbers reflect modern women’s commitment to quality of life. We’re no longer willing to sacrifice ourselves to meet social expectations, yet people still need connection. This new way of living eases the fear of dying alone while preserving the freedom of being single. As the book puts it, this kind of relationship balances a slight sense of distance with a reassuring sense of security. If you’re thinking about your future, this may be an option more worth investing in than marriage.

After all, what could be more reassuring than growing old with someone who understands you?

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